Philosophical Musings

Twitter

2008-04-25T10:16:00.001-07:00

I read about Twitter and decided to see what it was all about. At this point it seems to be sort of mini-blogging.

Anyway I've added a little twitter section on my sidebar. I'm sure I'll post to that just as much as I blog :) /sarcasm

My Sister Rocks

2008-04-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

My sister is a college professor and she teaches reading. How does that work you may ask? Well here she is in this video explaining it:

The System

2008-03-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Is it possible that there can be a foolproof system for predicting the winner of horse races? Watch as Derren explores this.

It moves a little slow but it is well worth watching. It is very well done.

I Don't Get It

2008-02-13T09:41:00.001-08:00

If Major League Baseball is a private organization, why is Congress involved in trying to figure out who used performance enhancing drugs?

Is this a criminal investigation with people on trial for illegal drug use? Doesn't seem like it. Can someone explain this to me?

Your Vote Counts

2008-02-06T13:19:00.001-08:00

Amazing how close the Democratic vote was yesterday:

Clinton: 7,350,238
Obama: 7,295,400

Love Hope Fear

2008-02-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

Great post from Seth Godin on motivations that marketers use.

Google, amazingly quickly, became a beloved brand, something many people see as bigger than themselves, something bigger than hope. Apple lives in this arena as well. I think if you deliver hope for a long time (and deliver on it sometimes) you can graduate to love. Ronald Reagan was beloved, even when he was making significant long-term errors. So was JFK. Hillary may be respected, but Obama is loved.

R.I.P Bobby Fischer

2008-01-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

Chess legend Bobby Fischer died.

Hope

2008-01-03T23:12:00.001-08:00

This gives me a feeling of hope that I haven't felt in the last 7 years.

Dick Cheney Boggles Me

2007-08-16T23:01:00.000-07:00

Dick Cheney on why it was a bad idea to take out Saddam back in the Gulf War. It's fascinating how prophetic and ironic it is.

How I Became a Vegetarian

2007-08-15T10:55:00.001-07:00

Irie and I both submitted our vegetarian stories to a Eugene based vegan site and you can read them here.

Yo-Yo

2007-08-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

Check out this video to see what people are doing with yo-yoing these days. We are long past walking the dog in 1982 with our Duncan Imperials:

I bring up yo-yos because at my side business we are about to start manufacturing and selling them and I've been enjoying getting back into it.

Eugene Happenings

2007-07-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

The other day our local video/dvd rental shop closed. They had been in business for 24 years specializing in art, foreign and independent films. They were one of the special things about the neighborhood we live in. They will be missed but will live on through the library which is buying up 10,000 titles from their great collection.

On the other side of the coin we discovered the coolest coffee in the world which actually opened last December. This is the coffee shop run by the same local roasters that roast the coffee we drink at home. They are called Wandering Goat. This coffee shop is so vegan friendly that it costs extra for dairy milk and not for soy, rice and any of the other non-dairy options (every other coffee shop I've ever been to charges extra for soy.) As well all of the treats are vegan. We love the location and it has a great atmosphere. Nothing like riding our bike over there for an iced soy mocha.

Matisyahu

2007-07-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Matisyahu is one amazing reggae artist. Check it out:

And the live version:

So on August 27th we're going to see Modest Mouse. The very next day 311 and Matisyahu are playing the same venue. We're going to try and turn this into a little trip and maybe see both shows. We'll see.

/begin rant

2007-07-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

It drives me crazy when you make an additional principal payment on a loan and the loan company's default action is to NOT apply it to principal but rather apply it as if you made a whole bunch of pre-payments. This happens even when I ask to them apply a certain amount to principal on the check memo. So now I have to waste time calling in to ask them to change it.

The default action should be to apply any extra payment to principal because I'm sure that is by the more common reason for paying extra on a loan. In fact, I can't think of a good reason for making a bunch of minimum payment pre-payments. Why would you possibly do that? They make the same amount of interest on your loan, AND they get to take your pre-payments and put them in the bank and make interest on them.

In the specific case today, it happens to be a mortgage loan. I tried to call in and spent a long time trying to get through the automated "press 8 to press 2" section because obviously the automated section won't be able to help me with this. Finally I get through and it looks like I'm on hold for a person and then suddenly a recorded voice says:

"We are upgrading our phone system for your convenience, please call back at a later date," followed by a hang up.

Nice. Does this happen to anyone else?

/end rant

I love Our Cats

2007-07-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of classic pictures of our cats.

This is one is Morgan cleaning her belly (of which there is a fair amount.) If you watch her do this, she freezes as if to say "whatchoo lookin' at?".

Meetu has learned to ring some little bells (from Shawn and Dagua's wedding that we had just happened to hang on that door) to let us know she wants to go outside. The more she wants out, the longer and louder she'll ring them. Also to get her to come back inside we open the door, ring the bell and wait five minutes and then she usually comes back. The bells are under her outstretched paw hanging from a string that you can just make out in this picture. Also, check out that fluffy tail.

Olbermann on the Libby Commutation

2007-07-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

Husk Gig

2007-07-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

We played at Sam Bond's Garage on Friday night. Irie took some cool pictures and made this animated gif:

Play this song and you'll get the virtual Husk experience:

bMuze.com
Title: Hoosier Sunset Artist: Husk

M&M Photography

2007-06-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

Way back in highschool, my friend Paul and I decided to start a business. I was working in a photolab and was heavy into photography and Paul was business minded (it's a genetic gift.) He would get the jobs and I'd take the photos.

We formed M&M Photography. We named it that because both our last names start with an "M". We only got as far as getting business cards made. I present to you The Business Card. The best part is "Since 1984". It was probably 1986 when we had the business card made so we figured that I had been involved with photography for 2 years so we could say that (Paul's idea of course.)

All Life is Sacred Except When it's Not

2007-06-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

sa·cred /ˈseɪkrɪd/
–adjective
1. devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose; consecrated.
2. entitled to veneration or religious respect by association with divinity or divine things; holy.
3. pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to secular or profane): sacred music; sacred books.
4. reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object: a morning hour sacred to study.
5. regarded with reverence: the sacred memory of a dead hero.
6. secured against violation, infringement, etc., as by reverence or sense of right: sacred oaths; sacred rights.
7. properly immune from violence, interference, etc., as a person or office.

"All life is Sacred." - George W. Bush, June 21st, 2007

Yesterday Bush used the premise "all life is sacred" to justify why he vetoed the stem-cell research bill. His argument goes something like this:

1. All life is sacred
2. Embryos are "life"
3. Stem-cell research violates embryos
4. By definition, sacred things should not be violated
5. Therefore, stem-cell research should not take place

In order to agree with his argument, you have to accept his premise that "all life is sacred". Let's take a closer look at it. The first thing to notice is the word "all". "All" means the whole amount. By "life" does he mean human life? With the word "all" there he either means "all human life" or "all living things". Since I'm skeptical that he doesn't mean "all living things" we'll go with "all human life". And the definitions of "sacred" are above. Which one does he mean? I would guess he means it something like "secured against violation, infringement" with some religious overtones.

So premise #1 is probably "All human life is secured against violation because it is sacred".

I believe bush uses the phrase "all life" to really mean that embryos are human beings and that he would use the same argument to say that abortion is wrong. My point here isn't to debate the status of embryos. My point is that by saying "all life" to make a very specific point (viz., that embryos are human beings") he steps into a huge logistical trap. If anyone has followed the words of G.W. Bush closely you'll know that logic really has no meaning for him and I hold no illusions about this. However, I want to spring the trap anyway.

If we hold Bush to his premise that "all (human) life is sacred" then we can make the following argument:

1. All life is sacred
2. The invasion/occupation of Iraq violates human life (many humans have been killed because of Bush's decision to invade and occupy so this premise is clearly true)
3. By definition, sacred things should not be violated
4. Therefore, the Iraq invasion/occupation should not take place

We could take it a step further if we thought he literally meant all life and not just human life:

1. All life is sacred
2. Factory farming violates animal lives
3. By definition, sacred things should not be violated
4. Therefore, factory farming should not take place

Or how about:

1. All life is sacred
2. The death penalty violates human life
3. By definition, sacred things should not be violated
4. Therefore, the death penalty should not take place

Wow, "all life is sacred" sure is a handy premise.

Does Bush really mean "all life?" Or is it "all life, except Iraqis, convicted murderers, terrorists, animals or ...?" Or is it "all life is sacred except when it's not?"

Global Climate Change: An Interesting Argument

2007-06-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

I love this kind of philosophy. He asks not whether global warming is true, but what action should we take. Thanks to Shawn for sending me this video.

Interesting Argument About Global Warming - Watch more free videos

Hoosier Sunset (Early Mix)

2007-06-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

Update: The Rhodes keyboard part has been added to this mix. Jeremy did a great job in capturing the mood of the song.

We recorded again last night and here is a super early mix of "Hoosier Sunset". The lead vocals are probably going to be redone, backing vocals need to be added and the piano part is not in there either. This is my favorite song of all the ones we do so I'm excited to even just have this little mix and to be able to hear it. Stephen is such a great song writer.

bMuze.com
Title: Hoosier Sunset Artist: Husk

Graduation Day

2007-05-25T22:38:00.001-07:00

Here is another song from our recording session. This one has a more refined mix. The choir at the end is great.

bMuze.com
Title: Graduation Day rough mix Artist: Husk

Finally Recording an Album

2007-05-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

The band I'm in (Husk) is finally recording an album. It's going to take a while to complete but we got our start this week and here is a rough mix of "Any Old Thing In The World". It doesn't have the piano piece yet and the mix isn't final but I'm really impressed with Jeremy's recording skills. Studio recording is a strange experience and it doesn't feel natural at all. The way we did this song was we recorded the bass and drums first with Stephen softly singing and playing the guitar in the background to give us vocal queues. Then the bass and drums track was used as a foundation to record the rest of the song over. We have to do it this way because there are limitations to our recording equipment and space. We're so used to playing our songs as a band all at once so doing it like this just feels weird and I have to say I was skeptical of what the final result might be but after listening to this early sample, I'm excited. What do you think?

bMuze.com
Title: Any Old Thing in the World rough mix Artist: Husk

Kid 4077

2007-05-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

I recently found out that Johnny Marr (ex Smiths guitarist now with Modest Mouse) has a son who is a budding musician and goes by the name of Kid 4077. I really love this song.

bMuze.com
Title: Get Me Out Artist: Kid 4077

Serious Coffee

2007-04-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Irie and I are really enjoying our road trip north. We started in Eugene and spent the first night in Portland with some friends. The next day we headed to the Olympic Penninsula and spent a couple of days there enjoying the rain forest and the most north western coast of the continental U.S. After that we took the ferry across from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. We love Victoria. We're enjoying the incredible food and the many coffee shops. One local coffee shop chain is called Serious Coffee and here is Irie in the doorway waiting for our Soy Mochas to be made.

Speaking of soy mochas, Victoria is very vegetarian/vegan friendly. We found the ultimate restaurant: The Reef. The Reef serves Caribbean food and has vegetarian options for almost everything. I had the Tofu Jerk and it was unreal. Usually Jerk is chicken so I've never had it before. Along with the tofu jerk I got some rice and beans and the tastiest vegan coleslaw ever. The Caribbean atmosphere is accented by sweet roots reggae music playing all the time. Rastafarians tend to replace part of a word with the letter "I", for example, "natural" is "ital". At The Reef they used "ital" on the menu to refer to the vegetarian options. We loved this of course.

Today we drove up the coast checking out more of Vancouver Island while taking sort of a knitting shop tour. Tomorrow we head to Vancouver (the city) where Irie will stay for two months doing her yoga teacher training and on Saturday I'll head back to Eugene.